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Juaanna Platou and her husband, Qillaq Danielsen, lost their beloved Athina last summer. The two years old girl was bitten by dogs. Neither the hospital nor the government explained to them how she died and what effect it may have had that it took four hours before she got medical help.

– I think that little Athina could have been saved. Loss of life due to lack of doctors and communication is unacceptable. On North Greenland you are forced to survive on your own when accidents happens, because the system is so bad, says Juaanna Platou.

Juaanna Platou now wants debate about the lack of support services on North Greenland and the lack of resources available for people who are sick and injured.

– In the last 4 years, the politicians on Greenland have not achieved any good results for Qaanaaq, says Qulutana Kvist, one of many hunters forced make a living out of fishing.

Sponsored by Fritt Ord and Aircontactgruppen, the Nanoq project will present some of the challenges that hunters from North Greenland cope with today. Most of the people we have interviewed mention fishing as a possible income in the future. So we went out fishing with Kvist and his son earlier this year. Check out halibut-ice-fishing in the video:

– There are many people out of work here in Qaanaaq. Some try to fish, like me. There are no other places to get work, at all. Tourism has almost vanished. It used to be very good. Sometimes as many as five airplanes from Canada would land on the ice in one day. Then we would take the tourists around with our dog teams. After the airport got built, that all disappeared – because the airport started charging landing fees. I think this is one key factor keeping tourism away from Qaanaaq.

Qulutana Kvist says their only hope to improve their future is their new factory.

– I started fishing when I was a small boy. And today I still fish. Today you can not survive alone on hunting. More and more hunters are becoming fishermen. You can earn more because our area is full of halibut.

– Can you tell me a little bit about how you fish?

– I bring a small shanty out onto the ice to fish from. After collecting bait, I set my gear into the Sea. I can only start to fish after the Sea freezes over. I learn from every experience on the ice. Today, my line is very long with many hooks. But that can vary too. Sometimes I keep my line out for 3 or 4 hours. I have about 70 hooks on my line, each spaced 1-arm length. I like to use “ammassat”, a very small fish, for bait. But I can not buy them anymore. So I use “uukkat”. It is our own local fish from here. Sometimes I have to buy other fish from the store.

– How much do you fish during the winter?

If I have a place to sell my fish, I would like to fish until the Spring when the ice melts . I would like to fish from January to July. But there is no place to sell the fish, so I don´t know.

– How is the future of Qaanaaq and your kids?

– It is hard to predict the future of Qaanaaq. We hope our collectively-owned factory will help us earn a salary by buying our narwhale and halibut. We also hope to sell other kinds of meat to the factory. For now, it is difficult to think about Qaanaaq’s future. Building a future with our collectively-owned factory is really the only hope we have right now.

The photo by Hans Bjelke is from the Nanoq-expedition earlier this year. The culture that still makes moments like this possible was discussed in Oslo tonight. Stephen A. Smith and Julia Szucs was at the Fram Museum to present their film, assisted by the Canadian ambassador to Norway. It is a story about two Inuit communities in Nunavut and Greenland. The documentary Vanishing Point described difficulties known to the Nanoq team and hunters in Northern Greenland. And it helps to make others aware of people in Arctic communities like this. It also shows beautiful scenery that inspire you to visit these places.

The Greenlandic main character, Navarana Sörensen, is fantastic in the way she describes the traditional way of life and how this life is changing with the melting of sea ice, among other challenges. A highlight was the narwhal hunt and how this hunt is contrasting with the Narwhal hunt in Nunavut.

After the film, the audience in Oslo had many questions. One was about the distribution of the film. “It will most likely be possible to see it on television on Greenland”, Smith said. In addition, the film has been broadcasted in Canada.

The award winning documentary was presented at Bygdøy, Oslo, thanks to National Film Board of Canada, the Fram Museum, Meltwater Media and the Embassy of Canada. Watch the film, but first: Watch the trailer here: http://www.nfb.ca/film/vanishing_point

Torgeir S. Higraff

Posted by nanoq2013 |
October 8, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Great film about Inuit communities

According to the Montreal architect Alain Fournier, Inuit knowledge and culture have played major roles in the design and function of the $142 million High Arctic Research Station planned for Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

Naimangitsoq Kristiansen and his friends among the hunters have won a great supporter in the new chairwoman in the Arctic Council. Leona Aglukkaq takes over the chairmanship of the council, and starts her job by saying it was the EU’s position on the seal hunt that cost it a seat in the exclusive club. Team Nanoq support Canada in this issue, and we hope they continue to give the EU and Greenpeace the cold shoulder at Arctic Council until EU change attitude towards the export of seal products.

We would like to share some reflections from our expedition. On the photo, weather looks nice, but a storm is gathering. To prepare for this, we dig the tents down in the snow and make a wall around it, a couple of feet high. The tools are not shovels but saws. Hans Reidar Bjelke